


Not Too Late to Pick Up the Pieces

by lronspiderr



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Confrontations, Emotional Baggage, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Recovery, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, i cant write endings, omfg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-04 13:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20471774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lronspiderr/pseuds/lronspiderr
Summary: [AU in which Tony survives the events of Endgame.]After he's back and five years have passed, Peter's confused, especially about Tony. In short, Peter's still not over that reuniting hug.





	Not Too Late to Pick Up the Pieces

Peter is the only visitor in the room, and he can’t understand why. He gets that Pepper Potts (or is it Pepper Stark now? He hadn’t asked) is busy attending to Stark Industries and all its misplaced employees, and therefore can’t be there. That’s the only instance that makes sense to him. The others should be there, though. Steve, Clint, Bruce, Rhodes, Wanda, Thor, Stephen, everyone. Morgan Stark should be there too, maybe not in the room considering she’s so young, but out in the hallway to wait for her father to come out.

“It’s almost finished,” the doctor says. Her name is Helen Cho, a world-renowned geneticist who’s been overseeing the operation for the past two hours. She seems kind and understanding, and without a doubt is incredibly intelligent.

Peter realizes she was speaking to him, so he nods. He’s been glued to the chair for over an hour, as soon as he stopped patrol and hurried over. He’s had nothing to do but watch Helen and the other doctors work.

The screens that the doctors are watching closely display nothing but good news. Tony’s vitals are great and the operation is 98% complete. It’s an immense relief and a huge weight off Peter’s chest, but he’s still anxious. 

Only a few months have passed since they all got back to Earth, and with finding his friends and May and getting his life back in order the best that they could, he hasn’t spoken to Tony much at all. He still has to attend Senior year, so school is a constant hindrance to him again, though luckily the first semester doesn’t begin for another few weeks. All the papers thrown to him and May needing signing is annoying, regardless.

The last time he and Tony talked, it hadn’t even been in person. Peter was sleeping over at Ned’s house for the weekend when Tony called him. Peter hinted that it wasn’t a good time, so Tony made it quick.

“I’ve finally scheduled a date to get this arm of mine fixed. The 18th. It’s going to be a huge event and reservations are scarce so you better tell me ASAP if you can come...Ask Aunt May if you can.”

“Oh,” was the first thing he could think to say. “Okay, I’ll let her know.”

After they had said short and awkward goodbyes, Ned had been relentless in asking questions about it, but Peter quickly steered the conversation to something else. 

He hadn’t wanted to think about the fight, or about Doctor Strange reeling him back in from the darkness, and the very last thing he wanted to think about was Tony. Yet he had been thinking about Tony constantly since they reunited, even through the chaos of that fight. He thought about him when he fought off aliens, trying to spot him through the mess of struggle on both sides. He thought about him when he was pushed to the ground and thought for a split moment that he had been rescued only to die again. He thought about him when Tony snatched the stones.

Peter had heard the man’s heart stop, and there was no possible way that Tony would ever come back.

Yet he did, and here Peter is, sitting in a makeshift operating room a few months later waiting for him to get out of that metal box Helen called a cradle. His anxiety is a tight, light yet constant feeling in his chest and he isn’t sure why he’s feeling this way. He’s certain Tony will be okay, the man is in the best hands right now, so the problem isn’t that.

“It’s done,” Helen says. His legs go weak, and it seems like the anxiety will burst through his chest like a bullet. He watches Helen unplug some tubes, tap on the screen, and pull up on the handle on the side of the box. 

The door opens towards him and blocks his view of the man inside, and Peter can’t see what’s happening except that Helen’s bent over and whispering something. Peter tunes her voice out and focuses his hearing on a low buzzing coming from the computers, until its so loud that its right in his ears and he can’t hear anything else.

He doesn’t understand why he’s there.

He doesn’t understand why he’s the first person that gets to see Tony all healed. There’s gratitude, of course, but mostly confusion that far outweighs it. With the confusion comes disbelief, and denial that he isn’t quite aware of.

Tony moves, first sitting up, then standing with Helen’s help. Peter watches him steady himself and look at his arm. It looks normal and is completely scar-free, like something had never happened to it at all. Peter briefly glances at it but he focuses more on Tony’s reaction to it. Then Tony’s failing to hide a smile, and he turns to Helen and says something to her. It makes Helen seem almost shy.

The man catches his gaze, and all the sounds in the room come crashing back to Peter’s ears and it’s all much too loud. He wonders what his expression must have been to make Tony look at him like that. Pity, or is it guilt?

“Well, I have a plane to catch,” Helen says, and Peter remembers that she had come all the way from Korea. She smiles at both of them, says some words about packing the equipment up to the other doctors, and grabs her jacket from the peg on the door as she leaves.

Peter’s still watching her walk down the empty hall when Tony speaks to him, and when she turns the corner and disappears it feels like he’s untethered. He doesn’t want to be in a room with strangers, or Tony. Though the latter is only a half-truth.

“I’m glad you made it, Mr. Parker,” Tony greets him. “Is Aunt May waiting in the lobby?”

He swallows and looks over at him, but his gaze can only reach Tony’s necktie. “Um, no, she's at work...O-Oh, she says thanks for the check, and for keeping our stuff in storage. She didn’t know if Pepper got her email about it.”

“No worries.”

“You saved her favorite flower pot, she was really happy about that.” He looks at the tiled floor, then back to Tony as the man drapes his suit jacket over his left arm. He wants to look away but doesn’t when Tony rolls his right shirt sleeve down.

The doctors make some noise when packing everything up, especially with the cradle when the wheels on it squeak. He can see that Tony doesn’t want to be there either, so he stands up as an offer to leave. It’s a bit of a mistake, because he’s almost eye level with him and it’s harder to avoid eye contact. He can feel Tony staring at him.

“Let’s grab a bite to eat,” Tony suggests with a pat to his shoulder as he passes by him.

Peter follows him down the hall to the elevator and focuses way too much on being not too far behind but not too close either.

He immediately goes to the corner of the elevator. He leans against the two handrails that meet at that point and watches Tony push the 1st floor button. The man’s taking full advantage of the nerves and feeling that’s returned to his right arm, that he hadn’t had for months. 

Tony seems a little anxious as well because he pushes the button that closes the elevator doors faster when they stay open for far too long. He then turns and Peter goes back to looking at his red tie.

“What are you hungry for, Pete? Sushi, pizza, burgers? I could go for some Mediterranean.”

He looks up, not to his gaze but to the side of his face. It looks normal too, like the power of six infinity stones hadn’t torn up his arm, shoulder, and neck to burn his cheek and temple. Then Peter wonders how Tony is feeling, because those stones definitely went beyond the surface and if they reached his temple then they had dived also to his brain.

It makes him feel lost and confused. How Tony survived it, Peter was certain he’d never understand.

He looks away and stares instead at the numbers above the door for each floor level they pass. “...Are the others going to join us?” He glances over, finally, at the man’s eyes and it’s Tony who looks away.

“It’ll be just us. If you expect all those thousands of people to attend, well I have the budget but that’s an expensive bill. You don’t want me to be poor, do you? Then there’s no more spidey-suits.”

Peter smiles, and it’s genuine. This side of Tony is rare for him to see, and he likes it a lot more than the disciplining mentor he was used to up until that reuniting hug. He’s afraid to ask about the hug, or the words Tony had said which were merely whispered yet loud and clear to him.

“I thought maybe the team was coming,” he chooses to explain, “or your family at least.”

Tony lets out a quiet sigh and scratches the back of his neck. “I’m not going to lie to you, kid. There’s not really a team anymore. Sure, if Thor takes a break from being mayor of his new town or if Barton wants a change from farm life, I’ll take them in with open arms. A lot’s changed, though, and some people...they’re gone, or they left. I know the Avengers meant a lot, but I don’t have any control over them.” He leans back and sets a hand on the railing, then continues. “My family’s been with me since I got back, but they’re independent people. Pep’s got the company. Morgan inherited that drive from her and is excelling in preschool right now. She’s the real teacher of the classroom.”

There’s silence, but it’s different from before. Peter absorbs all this information. No Avengers is not something he or the world wants to hear, but he understands. He understands it a lot more than he thinks he should, when that naive longing to be a regular person again creeps in. As for Morgan, he’s dying to meet her but also a little scared. Someone who’s like Tony; there’s high hopes, admiration, and a bit of hesitance.

“Could I meet her, someday?”

“Of course. Anytime you want. Just let me or Pep know.” It came out in a rush, and Tony takes a moment to ease his anxiety. “She would love to meet you too, she’s a big fan of Spider-Man. But, I may or may not have told her that you hang upside down whenever you need to think....Charlotte’s Web is her favorite movie.”

Peter laughs, short and gentle yet it still echoes around the small elevator. He can actually recall the last time he laughed, not an inwardly chuckle at a meme but an audible genuine laugh. It was something nerdy that Ned said about a week and a half ago. (Hadn’t he read an article about people laughing on average 17 times a day?)

The elevator stops and the doors slide open. He follows him out into the hall but eventually he comes to a stop, and Tony doesn’t notice for another few yards. He looks back at him with a confused look, and Peter feels the same. 

“Pete?”

Peter looks at a basket of fake flowers sitting on a small table against the hallway wall. They’re orange, red, and yellow, and sprinkled with dust, likely fall decorations that hadn’t been swapped out since last year. He isn’t sure why he suddenly feels the way they look.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Tony backtrack and approach him. He continues to look at a red flower with dust coating the petals. He had truly thought he’d become a germaphobe after all that dust, after all those people and him and the actual dust from that planet, but it doesn’t bother him.

What does bother him is the way Tony’s looking at him. It’s not a stern expression, it’s not a glare, it’s not judgmental or condescending. Peter doesn’t quite get it, and he feels like he’s been clueless and confused this day more than any other. He expected Tony to say something about him being foolish, or that he should have stayed out of the fight, but instead he had gotten a hug. He understands that it had been five years, but it seems to him that it would make more sense for Tony to forget him than show up and hug him like that.

“Peter? What’s on your mind, kid?”

He looks at him, then back to the flowers. “Erm, can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“...Who am I to you? You let me be there for the operation and now you’re taking me to dinner and I really do appreciate it and I’m glad you’re okay but-” He glances at him, “-shouldn’t it be, like, Morgan here with you? She's your family, I'm just...someone you found.” 

Peter knows he must look scared, because he is. As he says all his questions and concerns out loud, it starts to make sense to him, and he doesn’t know if he likes what it means. For the longest time he felt so far away from Tony, like there was a barrier set up between them that he couldn’t break down, but now it’s coming down on its own.

Tony briefly smiles, and it’s not the reaction that Peter would have ever expected. He then sets an arm around his shoulders and steers him forward down the hall, yet he’s not in any rush to reach the front doors just yet. “You were an angsty teen back then, and I was trying to keep my distance; I didn’t want to scare you off. Then you left right as I thought I was getting the hang of this whole guidance gig. You're more than some kid I recruited. You were always more than that."

He pulls his arm away and turns to face him. “I’m trying to do what my father didn’t. He wasn’t good at drawing close to people. The team is disbanded for now, and my family is doing great. This time right now- This is our time. Five years slipped from us, and I’m trying to get them back.”

Tony looks away and lets out a little sigh as he scratches the back of his neck. “You’ve got classes soon and you'll be busy." Tony looks back to him. “Do you get what I’m trying to say?”

“...Yeah. A lot's changed, is all. Sometimes, sometimes this world doesn't feel like it's mine.”

Tony takes a deep breath. "When you left, we had Morgan soon after and I busied myself to make this world for her. But I found myself making this world for you too. I thought we had lost, but I couldn't help it, that maybe you'd come back.” 

Peter bites his lip and lets the words sink in for a minute, then says, “Uh, you know, with school starting, I could call you? Like, not everyday but uh, every...two weeks?”

“Every week.”

“Okay.”

Tony steps forward for a hug, and for a few seconds Peter just stands there dumbly with his arms at his sides before it registers and he hugs him back.

“You’re important to me,” Tony reminds him. “You’re family.”

Peter’s hugging him as tightly as he had when they reunited, and he briefly worries that he’s crushing him now that nanotech suits aren't between them. He feels the sting at the back of his eyes from tears threatening to form and blinks rapidly. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles into his shoulder, “that I left you.”

Tony exhales shakily. “Don’t be. God, don’t be. It was out of your control.”

“I know, but...”

Tony pulls away and gives him a stern look. “No buts.” His expression softens, but hardens as he turns away. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” He walks suddenly and quickly towards the front exit.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter calls as he rushes to catch up.

“Yes?”

“I don’t think I’ve said it before. So, I want to say thanks, for everything.”

Tony doesn't respond right away but rather keeps his back to him, and Peter wonders if he's pierced some new barrier between them. He doesn't know how much he can say now and he worries about it like he's broken something.

Yet, Tony's tone is what he hoped for. Loving, understanding. Most importantly he doesn't try some roundabout way to not validate his appreciation. "You're welcome, Peter." 

They come to a stop outside, and a flashy car Peter's only seen in magazines rolls up. Tony pops the driver-side door open, then looks to him. "I'm glad you came here today," he says, and then gets in. He gestures to the passenger seat. "Are you going to join me for baba ganoush?"

Peter goes around the car and hops in. "I don't even know what that is," he admits.

"You'll see."

The car takes off on its own, and Peter tries to relax in his seat. The leather interior makes that easy enough. 

He glances at Tony, whose eyes are on the road ahead. 

It seems, not odd, but simply different. To spend time with Tony outside any Avengers or Spider-Man stuff would seem odd to him back in 2018, but that was over five years ago and a lot had changed even if he wasn't there for it.

It still seems a bit odd, but to Tony it doesn't seem to be at all. Peter takes note and holds onto that, and he understands why he's there. Not just why he's in a sports car with Tony Stark, but why he's back from the darkness.

He's important to Tony.


End file.
